There was pandemonium in Community Secondary School Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State, penultimate Thursday, after teargas smuggled into class by a student, Nicodemus Nkapari, 17, was detonated.

His classmate identified as Darlington Sylvanus accidentally detonated the chemical weapon.

It was learned that Nicodemus had collected the teargas canister from the bag of his late brother who was a police officer.

In a video clip recorded by a teacher and posted online, students were seen jumping down from the first floor of the school’s storey building following the following the loud sound of the detonation and the strong smell the teargas released into the air.

The video immediately went viral online.

It was gathered that the incident, which left about 25 students with various degrees of injuries, caused the school to be shut for three days.

The school Principal, Mrs. Ruth Major, reported the incident at Olu Obasanjo Police Station, Port Harcourt.

Major, in her statement to the police, said: “On Thursday, we experienced security challenge and it happened because a student in Senior Secondary School 2 brought a teargas canister to class and invited his mates.

“As they were contemplating on how to open it, one of them, Darlington, detonated it.

“When he (Darlington) opened it and smoke started coming out, he ran out of the class. As a result, there was panic and stampede.”

She confirmed that 25 students sustained various degrees of injuries, including broken legs and had hand injuries, following the incident, adding that the victims were receiving treatment in hospital.

Nicodemus and Darlington were taken into police custody and later released on administrative bail.

No terrorist, cult attack – Police

Rivers State Police Command, after its preliminary investigation, dismissed the claim that the incident was cult or terrorist related.

In a statement, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, the police spokesman, however, described the development as worrisome, stating that police had restored calm in the area.

Omoni said: “The attention of the Rivers State Police Command has been drawn to a video making the rounds and trending on social media, on the alleged attack of the students and staff of Community Secondary School, Oroworukwo by student-cultists and unknown persons.

“It has become necessary to state in unmistakable terms that the incident at the Community Secondary School Oroworukwo is not a terrorist attack or an attempt to kidnap students, and that it has no semblance of cult attack.

“Investigation is still ongoing with a view to unravelling the circumstances surrounding the incident and bringing the culprits to justice.

“That so far normalcy has been restored in the school and environs, as normal school activities have resumed in earnest.”

•Excerpted from a Sunday Vanguard report.

Update news